What Do Consumers Really Think Of Advertising And Influencer Marketing, A New Study Reveals It All

The impact of social media on users is known to be great but to what extent does it affect users’ buying decisions is still a question on so many people’s minds.

And that’s exactly why IZEA Insights has gone through the trouble of conducting a research study that focuses on just that, including the effects of advertising, coupled with influencer marketing.

With 1,237 people being surveyed as a whole, the research tried to assess people’s thoughts and how they differed in terms of key demographics like age, race, gender, and more.

The goals of the study were mostly related to giving key stakeholders like businesses a clearer picture of how the world of marketing through digital platforms holds a valuable place in today’s time. Similarly, the study hoped to give insights to decision-makers about leading trends through which they could better their businesses. After all, engaging with consumers either directly or indirectly through social media platforms holds promising potential for now and the future.

It’s interesting to observe how 36% of those surveyed agreed that posts put up by social media influencers were the number of factors that really affected their buying decisions. To be more specific, influencers promoting any product or service were sure to motivate them into doing the same. Women agreed more with this decision than men, where figures comparatively stood at 42% for females versus just 31% for males.

Marketing posts by influencers topped the list for respondents falling in the 30 to 33-year age bracket, where 45% agreed. Meanwhile, 39% of those aged between 18 to 29 felt the same.

The study also shed light on how adults arising in the 18 to 44 age range were confident about how influencer marketing was sure to make double the impact seen with television commercials. However, the older generation, aged 45 and above felt TV ads are what instigated them into making a purchase, causing social media influencer marketing to rank below it.

Next, those surveyed were asked about how differently they viewed A-List celebs when compared to influencers on social media in terms of trusting them with sponsored posts. Interestingly, 62% of them claim they would blindly trust influencers over celebs any day. And these results were consistent for all the age brackets.

To break it down further by age, around 56% of the adults admitted to buying products after it was marketed or even tested by the influencer themselves.

IZEA insights also took this moment to highlight how female influencers did a much better job of engaging viewers, consolidated by the fact that 83% of marketing deals went to women alone. But considering how 43% of men agreed to make purchases based on an influencer, the results were definitely balanced out.

Another key finding made in the report spoke about how 61% of adults have either engaged through liking or commenting on an influencer’s post that was sponsored. The highest responses were seen in the 30 to 33 age group for adults.

IZEA’s reports also highlighted how important of a role social influencers have in today’s modern times because 92% of those surveyed followed them to a great extent. On average, adults claim to be following between 1 to 20 influencers.

Next, respondents were asked about the platform of choice that they felt was the best for influencer-related product promotion. While 26% agree YouTube had their heart, a tie was observed between both Instagram and Facebook which trailed behind at 24%.

Meanwhile, TikTok stood in the third position, capturing only 14% of the votes while Twitter managed to get just 4%, followed by Pinterest, Podcast, and LinkedIn.

To be more specific in terms of demographics, women felt Instagram did a better job of influencer marketing, followed by Facebook, and then YouTube. Meanwhile, the trends were reversed for males who felt YouTube was the best, then Facebook, and then Instagram for platforms.

As far as age was concerned, those adults above 60 felt Facebook did justice to influencer marking as a platform when compared to those in the 18 to 29 age group, who were almost 7 times less likely to feel the same.

The study concluded by giving businesses a reminder of how social media continues to grow with time and that’s why we’re seeing consumer likes alter with it. The take-home message is how brands can benefit by working with multiple influencers across different platforms to reach the designated target market.
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